The present invention relates to oral cleaning devices such as toothbrushes and water jets and in particular to an oral cleaning device with an internal water bladder.
Oral cleaning devices that employ a water jet feature are known in the art and typically use an external supply of water. In one category of the prior art, a toothbrush is tethered or connected to a faucet. The water pressure from the faucet is used to propel the water out the head of the toothbrush and/or used to power a motor that is used to rotate or move bristles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,010 discloses a toothbrush that includes a hollow body, an opening by the head of the toothbrush, and a water inlet that is tethered and attached to a faucet. In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,997 discloses a toothbrush that is also tethered to a faucet and that uses the water pressure to power an impeller to move bristles on the head of the toothbrush. In both patents, the water is already pressurized and flowing. Additional toothbrushes that are tethered to a faucet or external source of running water may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,192, discloses a toothbrush tethered to a shower head; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,500,973 and 4,257,433, disclose toothbrushes tethered to faucets; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,823, discloses a toothbrush tethered to an external source of water that is pumped into and through the toothbrush.
Various problems exist and are associated with the fact that the toothbrush must be tethered to the external source at all times. These toothbrushes significantly limit the user""s range of motion. In addition, the units are bulky and are not made to be portable, oftentimes causing the user to own a separate toothbrush for traveling.
Other devices that are non-tethered require batteries or some other type of power supply to propel the fluid out of the device. If the device is plugged into an electrical socket it is still tethered to a device. Moreover, these devices may become unsafe as the liquid may spray or splash near the electrical socket. For the devices that use batteries, the money associated with replacement batteries increase the cost of the device making it undesirable to consumers.
As such it is an object of the present invention to provide a totally non-tethered portable oral cleaning device. It is also an object of the present invention to provide an oral cleaning device that incorporates a nozzle for jetting a pressurized fluid into a user""s mouth. The oral cleaning device should be capable of operating without the use of batteries or additional power supplies. The oral cleaning device in accordance with the present invention includes a resilient internal expandable bladder for holding a liquid. The bladder is contained within the oral cleaning device eliminating the need to tether the device to a faucet or other outside source. The oral cleaning device also includes a means for releasing the liquid contained within the bladder out of the oral cleaning device, without the need of batteries or pumps. The oral cleaning device is completely portable and assists the user in cleaning their entire mouth, including the tongue, gums, and teeth, by providing interchangeable heads. The user is required only to fill the internal bladder with a liquid. Once filled, the expandable bladder exerts a substantially constant force on the liquid, as the bladder desires to return to its original form. Thus, when the liquid contained in the bladder is released, the pressure exerted on the liquid, by the bladder, propels the liquid out of the device.
In accordance with the present invention, a handheld portable oral cleaning device is provided that includes a refillable internal bladder, which a user is able to fill with a liquid. The bladder is an expandable but resilient latex rubber. One end of the bladder is accessible to the user, such that the user may fill the bladder with a liquid, such as water from a faucet. As the bladder fills with water it expands and exerts a pressure on the water because the bladder has a tendency to return to its original unfilled form. This pressure causes the water to expel or jet out of the oral cleaning device and thus assists in cleaning the user""s mouth.
Numerous other advantages and features of the invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and the embodiments thereof, from the claims, and from the accompanying drawings.